Mimetic pressures: Perceived success enjoyed by their competitors who adopted ERP. Teo et al. (2003b).
The mimetic mechanism operates when, under conditions of outcome uncertainty, organi- sations model themselves after those other organisations in their field which are perceived to be more successful or legitimate (Galaskiewicz & Wasserman, 1989). In addition to confer- ring legitimacy, which is a key imperative for organisational actors, mimicry also helps them economise on search costs and reduces the uncertainty related to the outcomes of their decisions.
Although the extant literature and this study conceptualise three types of institutional forces – mimetic, normative and coercive (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Teo et al., 2003b; Liang et al., 2007), we focus on only the former two when developing our moderating hypotheses, and for a theoretical reason, exclude the coercive forces.